


Calm Before the Storm

by PaintedOak



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedOak/pseuds/PaintedOak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave and Jade are peacefully collecting frogs, happy to use time travel as they wish. But, then, an unexpected visitor comes to ruin that peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calm Before the Storm

"Okay, so I got these guys. What'd ya think?"

Jade looked up from her orange frog to see Dave holding up two others, a blue one and a green one. He held out his offering to her, silently telling her to take the slimy things off his hands.

"You better like 'em, 'cause it took so many flippin' hours in the past to get these little f'ers," he continued.

She chuckled, and took the blue one. He always said things like that whenever he went back in time to make these little guys. "Took me so many hours, you don't even know." "I should be in my thirties by now!" "Jade, don't make me go back. I don't think these old bones of mine can take the time travel anymore." It was always so funny, what he said when he returned with a frog.

She regarded the green one, and smiled.

"You know, it's funny. Since we've started this, he's the only green one I've seen," she mused.

"Yeah, they've all been so bright, it's as if they wanted to start the world's greatest frog party, and decided that they're just gonna paint themselves neon instead of getting party lights. The poor bastards. But then this guy missed out on the memo, and oops! No paint," he said, holding up the green amphibian.

"Perhaps when we're done here, we should throw them a party!"

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd be flippin' appreciative of that. They'd be all hoppin' around, grabbing at the air with their tongues, praising us for the cute little party lights we all went up and got for them. We'll be their idols, their gods, their king and queen, and they better be happy with the party theme. 'Cause I got plans for this. I got so many plans for this, you don't even know."

"Dave."

"Hey, do you think they'll mind a DJ? Of course not. 'Cause I'm the best DJ this side of paradox space. My mixin's are so airtight, it might as well be a rocket hurtling through the f'in' cosmos."

"Dave."

"It's as if my beats went all-"

"Dave."

"What?" Dave blinked at Jade, who had her arms crossed. Man, she always looked so adorable when she did that. Her body language showed how frustrated she was with him, while the small smile on her face belied her amusement.

"What?" he repeated.

"You were swinging the frog around," she replied simply. He looked at the little green thing, at the tiny blue eyes, and at the small line of a mouth. It seemed to be mocking him, the slimy bastard. Those eyes told him, "Dude. What's wrong with you?" The slight grin of the mouth said, "Haha. Busted."

Or maybe it was just his mind.

Probably.

Not.

"What do you want to do with this abomination, anyway?" Jade's death glare flared up out of nowhere.

"He's not an abomination! He's a cute, adorable little froggy who could be vital to this mission!"

"Nah. No way he's important."

"He could be!"

"Nope. Abomination."

Jade got straight up in his face, her eyes narrowed. "You take that back. Or I will murder you," she hissed. But Dave smiled. He never was scared, or intimidated, and this was no different. Especially since he knew by the glint in her eyes that she was just messing with him, her death-threat a joke.

"Nah. Don't think I will."

A moment was held between the two of them in mock-tense silence. The pair stood close enough to feel each others steady breathing in the others' face. Dave mused to himself that this was the perfect start to one of John's rom-coms: A pair fighting over some mudane thing, getting up in each others' face, and ending up passionately kissing. It would be so easy to take her face in his hand, lean in, and-

Whoa.

Stop.

She probably doesn't even like you like that.

He shoved the thought away, and returned his attention back to Jade's harsh face. He'd never been more thankful for his dark shades, or for his ability to keep a straight face, even when something shocking crossed his mind. Like the fact that Jade didn't have the frogs anymore.

"Uh, Jade? Where are the frogs?" he asked.

"I let them go. I needed both hands to destroy you with." She smiled, showing him her trademark Harley Grin.

"Oh, and what? You just expecting me to go back in time and grab them?" He questioned, gesturing to the creatures, who were happily hopping away.

Just then, another Dave appeared, who plucked the two colorful frogs from the air, mid-jump. Tucking them safely underneath an arm, he strode over to the two and took Daves' green one from him.

"Yep," he said simply, and vanished.

The both of them stared at the spot he had just disappeared from. Jade blinked.

"Dave?"

"Yeah?"

"Wasn't he wearing those purple Derse pajamas?" Dave nodded.

"Why do you think your dreamself went back and got them? I would've thought it'd be, well, you know. You. Dressed as...you."

He shrugged, silently telling her that he didn't know. But, in truth, he really did. And he wanted to tell her why. Oh, how much he wanted to tell her about-

"Dave." Jade's quiet voice interruted his thoughts. He hated when she did that. He almost growled in annoyance, but what he saw in her face stopped him.

In that small, loveable face, he saw dread. Her bright green eyes held fear. Her rigid jawline betrayed anger. He didn't question what was wrong. He knew. He knew what she was staring at. And he knew what was about to happen. But, for her, to keep playing clueless, he turned to face what he knew was there.

In the distance was the lit Forge, the place Jade had recently brought to life. And floating over the rim of the volcano was a dark angel, glowing in a radioactive pattern of green and yellow. Basking in the light of the molten rock and fire, this was truely a glimpse of hell.

Dave looked back to Jade, who had drawn her gun from her strife specibus.

"Guess I'll have to murder you later, huh?" she joked, all traces of fear vanished. She was all business now.

"Yep. Although, I'm still maintaining that there's no way you'll ever be able to thoroughly destroy me," he answered, drawing his sword. As they watched, Jack swooped down from the volcano, his sword in hand.

"We'll see."

With that, Jade and Dave were thrust into the heat of battle.

Jade began firing everything she had at Noir, while Dave swung his sword at him along with three other versions of himself. Flashes of red and white surrounded Jack as the four Daves moved around him effortlessly, a fast-paced dance of swords and strife, set to the tempo of the clanging of metal and the rapid fire of Jade's rifle.

Too soon, Jade found the gun empty of bullets. With a grunt, she flung the now useless rifle at Jack and drew out another from her strife specibus at random. What she got made her grin evily. This was the Green Sun Streetsweeper, created lovingly from her bedsheets and Bec. This thing would fire off large balls of plasma. Aw yeah. This should do some damage.

She started firing at will, while the four Daves continued sparring with Jack. They had gotten into a pattern by now, one that would not let Jack have a moments' peace. Wherever he turned, BAM! there was another Scarlet Ribbitar threatening his doggy self. But even so, the four were no match for the one.

Jack swung his sword around, and finally, he felt it cut flesh. With a satisfied grunt, he brought the doomed boy down. He swung around again, and another boy was dead. They were getting sloppy with their dance, Jack thought. Another strike, and a third one was on the ground in a pool of water and snow. He turned, trying to find the fourth and final Dave. His snout instantly pinpointed his location, and he pounced, his sword back and ready for more blood.

But then she was there. He hadn't noticed her standing next to him before, but now, there she was. Dave had grabbed her and plopped Jade right in front of him, knowing that Jack would never hurt her, even to get to his prey. Even so, she screached shrilly, the fear showing in her scream, and Jack backed off.

But, too soon, he was back.

Dave thrust Jade away from him, whispering in her ear, "Adagio Redshift," as he pushed her. Jade caught her footing again, just in time to see Dave warding Jack off with a powerful thrust of his blade. Then, she smiled with the smile of someone with a secret to hide, and initiated the powerful fraymotif.

The land pulsed red, and galaxies starting swirling Jack. Jade had thought that this fraymotif was sure to finish him off, if not to make him leave, but she soon saw that she was wrong. He had placed a force field around himself, which, instead of blocking the attack out completely, seemed only to weaken it. Even so, Adagio Redshift, even at such a weakened state, still seemed to be doing some damage, evident by the way Jack glowed green and yellow. But not enough. They ended the attack, and reverted to their usual weapons.

Jack slowly stood, while Jade and Dave backed off.

Jade looked at Dave, who seemed very tired.

"Dave, you okay?" she asked, returning her eyes back to Jack.

"Yeah. Just a bit winded. That fraymotif always kicks the snot out of me, you know?" She did know. There was another fraymotif that always made her tired.

"Don't worry about it, Dave. I got this."

And with that, she thrust herself in between Dave and Jack, and fired her rifle, shouting a war cry. She fired, and fired, and fired, trying to give Dave as much time as possible to get himself pulled together. Maybe by the end of this clip, he'd be good to jump right back in. Jade watched as Jack glowed radioactively, thinking that her bullets were actually hitting him, instead of just going through him like before. After what seemed like forever, but was actually just twelve seconds, the clip ran out, and Jack retreated.

"Dave! Look, we-"

THUD.

Jade's jubliant cries were cut short by the dull sound of something falling to the ground. She suddenly got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and turned around to face the source of the terrifying sound.

"DAVE!" She cried out, for lying facedown on the ground was the blonde. Suddenly, all she could see were the growing dots of red on the back of his white shirt. She ran to him, fear and adrenaline clouding her vision. For a moment, she hovered over him, unsure of what to do. Then, she gently flipped him over into her lap, and as she did, she heard him exhale a small breath. Her heart soared. He was still alive! But, as she looked into the face that was much more blank than usual, and at the thin trail of blood that had wormed its way from the corner of her mouth, she knew. She knew that he was dead and gone. The small sound she'd heard coming from him was his dying breath. And his death might as well have been her fault.

Her breath caught in her throat, and tears threatened to fall. Her eyes couldn't leave his face, the face that had only bare minutes ago been animated with a smirk. She thought back at the times they had spent together, to all those chats. He was such a good friend, even when he was being a smart-alec.

A tear dropped onto Dave's still face, and Jade suddenly knew that she thought of him as more than just a good friend. She probed her feelings for him while gently stroking his cheek and smoothing his hair and straightening his shades, attempting to make him look normal. It was when she was wiping the blood away from his lips that she came to terms with the idea forming in her head. She loved him.

She loved him, and now he was gone.

"Dave!" She cried out, and her head dropped to his blood-soaked shirt, her chest shaking with sobs. She held him to her for the longest time, her tears mixing with his blood. For a time, she thought she could feel Dave with her. She imagined that he was standing behind her, his face stoic as ever. He was comforting her in the only way he knew how. Finally, her head rose to stare into Dave's still face. Another sob racked her body, and she brought his head up and kissed him.

The kiss, at first harsh and backed with loneliness, slowly regressed into something soft and caring. When she drew away, her sobs began anew.

Because sitting there next to her, were three little frogs looking up at the sobbing girl: orange, green and blue.

And a note sat beside them, written in red ink:

 

yeah, you were right. the green one is important.

its the blue one that isnt.

**Author's Note:**

> Normally, I try to keep my characters as canon as possible. However, because of a pact I made with myself years ago, Dave's cussing was modified some. 
> 
> Still, I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
